Dropped the trail mix container onto the floor at home just as I was about to put it in the commute bag. Spent a few minutes having to pick up the seeds and sultanas from the dining room floor. Ugh. Left the trail mix at home and will see whether it is salvageable for the rest of the week tonight. Lucky I'd just cleaned the floors the day before.

Then saw it was pouring outside so tried to find the waterproof housing for the GoPro. I knew I'd put it in my bag but the Mary Poppins-esque bag just wasn't providing this morning. So had to take the GoPro off as I didn't want to stuff the camera up if it got water in it. (Found the housing as soon as I got to work. )

I installed a rear vision mirror on the weekend. The installation of this mirror requires the bar tape to be unwrapped (and then rewrapped over the ends of the mirror). Stupid me tried to do it without realising what that would mean to my bar tape and left a lovely spiral line of bar tape and glue on the end of the bar. I still wanted to re-use the bar tape. Oh well, lesson learnt. Managed to work around it. I'll leave it looking like a half-dodgy job until I can source some nice deep burgundy bar tape. Any suggestions?

So I left about 10 minutes later than usual, was late to work, but everyone was nicer on the roads after 9AM it seems although the roads felt extra slippery. Rode in the pouring rain most of the way to work. Gunge and dirt all over my legs. Lucky I was wearing pants today so not a big issue once I changed into work clothes.

No cycling today because I'm working in the city, but I did do a Bike SA family ride with my 10yo yesterday. We just did the 20k but he was very pleased with himself. He's not used to hills as there aren't any near home, so he took a while to get the hang of using his gears on the hills, but he was managing most of them by the end. I rode the 15k each way to and from the ride, so am pretty happy with my 50k too.

One of the cooler afternoons in Melbourne for the ride back yesterday, pleasant though.Cool, almost chilly (when compared to the last few weeks) this morning at 4:30am, especially the section along the Darebin Creek. Warmed up a bit closer to the CBD.

Late Extended River Loop this morning. Was going to take it easy, until I caught sight of another rider. Can't help myself. Strong rider doing about 36km/h. Kept with him until he took a shortcut at the Tennis Centre. Nice morning for it.

Yesterday afternoon: Cyclist in front of me gets assaulted by the passenger of a white Honda sedan. As I came up to the cyclist at the lights I saw him with his phone out taking photos of something - I asked him if everything was okay, he said he'd just had an apple core thrown at him by the white car (which was then behind me at that time) and he was going to report them to the EPA for littering. Then the male passenger gets out of the car, and as the cyclist rides off when the light turns green the male passenger jumps onto the road and gets all up in the cyclist's space. The cyclist stops and there are words exchanged (which I don't hear) and then the male passenger grabs the cyclist around the head and pulls off a part of the cyclist's helmet and his glasses.

I exchanged details with the cyclist (happy to be a witness if he reports it to the police) and also have the footage on my handlebar mounted GoPro which I will send to him. It was so aggressive an action by the male passenger. The female driver of the car also started honking us as the other cyclist and I get off the road to exchange details but that may have been because she's finally clicked that her male passenger has done something really really stupid and is trying to get him back in the car.

This morning: Using my new rear bar mirror I'm watching this idiot car driver come to within a few centimetres of my back wheel and stay there. It was very nerve-wracking. I turned my head fully and gave him a look. He did nothing and wasn't seemingly aggressive, just really really stupid. He didn't even bother changing lanes to pass when he had plenty of opportunity, just stayed there. I was definitely claiming the lane at that point as I was thinking he'd buzz me if I moved to the left. I held my line and didn't do any quick movements and moved (with considerable relief) into the bicycle lane when it appeared.I think he was just an idiot elderly driver but he gave me concern. No reverse-facing camera yet. Will rectify that.

Then had a MGIF subaru driver who couldn't wait the 10 seconds behind me to turn at an intersection about 50 metres ahead (as I'd claimed the right lane at that point and was clearly indicating my intention to turn right). Guess who then came alongside her 10 seconds later at the right turn as she's waiting for traffic? Yes, little 'ol me. She wasn't dangerous about it, just silly.

But apart from the above it was a lovely crisp morning this morning. I had the full length tights on, which made me happy (as they are rainbow coloured). It felt good with the cold chill back.

Last edited by Summernight on Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

Summernight wrote:Yesterday afternoon: Cyclist in front of me gets assaulted by the passenger of a white Honda sedan. As I came up to the cyclist at the lights I saw him with his phone out taking photos of something - I asked him if everything was okay, he said he'd just had an apple core thrown at him by the white car (which was then behind me at that time) and he was going to report them to the EPA for littering. Then the male passenger gets out of the car, and as the cyclist rides off when the light turns green the male passenger jumps onto the road and gets all up in the cyclist's space. The cyclist stops and there are words exchanged (which I don't hear) and then the male passenger grabs the cyclist around the head and pulls off a part of the cyclist's helmet and his glasses.

Summernight wrote:Yesterday afternoon: Cyclist in front of me gets assaulted by the passenger of a white Honda sedan. As I came up to the cyclist at the lights I saw him with his phone out taking photos of something - I asked him if everything was okay, he said he'd just had an apple core thrown at him by the white car (which was then behind me at that time) and he was going to report them to the EPA for littering. Then the male passenger gets out of the car, and as the cyclist rides off when the light turns green the male passenger jumps onto the road and gets all up in the cyclist's space. The cyclist stops and there are words exchanged (which I don't hear) and then the male passenger grabs the cyclist around the head and pulls off a part of the cyclist's helmet and his glasses.

Youtube please!!

Tried to upload yesterday but my home connection was stupid and I left it overnight and the upload had failed in the morning. Doing so again this morning.

Had some curry for lunch and it really disagreed with me on the way home today, still getting a bit of heart-burn from it

Rode the scenic way home via the city again, it's a nice ride and a perfect afternoon weather wise but gee there are a lot of tools on the Sydney city cycleways trying to push in front of you when you're waiting at the lights. It's even worse when you're drastically faster than all of them and just have to pass them again (even with aforementioned reflux misery I was having).

AndrewBurns wrote:Had some curry for lunch and it really disagreed with me on the way home today, still getting a bit of heart-burn from it

Rode the scenic way home via the city again, it's a nice ride and a perfect afternoon weather wise but gee there are a lot of tools on the Sydney city cycleways trying to push in front of you when you're waiting at the lights. It's even worse when you're drastically faster than all of them and just have to pass them again (even with aforementioned reflux misery I was having).

Rudeness everywhere. I hope you used your gas-cloud secret weapon to good effect .

I like the sound of your tights Summernight! Where did you get them from?

I was nearly home this afternoon when I rode around a corner, and there was a guy, on his phone, with his back to me, walking very slowly backwards into the middle of the road I think he was checking out some hard rubbish on the footpath and telling someone about it, and was actually talking to the person on the phone about it, but why it didn't occur to him that someone might come around the corner and run him over is beyond me. I slowed almost to a stop because I wasn't sure if he would head back towards the curb or keep moving out past the centre line. He turned around just as I got to him and didn't even look startled

MYT back yesterday afternoon, lovely ride in pleasant conditions...a good number of people obviously thought so as well - paths were pretty busy.Ride into the Melb CBD was uneventful and while it wasn't all that cold - about 12C - the air seems to have a new crispness to it...

I will not mention where to find the pot of gold... Speaking of rainbows it was absolutely lovely on Monday morning with a double rainbow over the city - I saw them on my morning run beside the Yarra (and then on my ride to work got hit by the rainstorm that caused them).

The Age wrote:Reports of road rage violence have risen dramatically, with Victoria Police recording a 42 per cent increase in driving-related assaults between strangers.

Moving on, I loved the chill in the air this morning in Melbourne. The temperature was just slightly too hot for long tights so the rainbows stayed in bed. Had a small headwind but it didn't cause any problems - I wish that wind didn't change directions like I know it is going to and become a headwind on the way home. A tail wind for once would be nice.

eldavo wrote:This made the 4:30am alarm worth it by the end... final 3km stretch is my only section of Riverside Drive, end to end of the CBD.

Nice eldavo! Can't say I've seen Riverside Drive on a bike quite that early (at least having slept in the hrs before hand...)

Perth: My morning commute to work was slightly later than eldavo's - left about 7:00 am. Overcast but not raining, a little humid but still fresh enough to be pleasant. Basically just another great day to be on the bike!

Plenty of fellow treadliers out and about with some Bike to Work breakfasts happening. Good to see!

Without getting too "CCR" on you, I was pulling off from a blind-ish roundabout at the bottom of UWA when a strong group of four treadliers zooted through from the right at good clip and flew past me as I was getting my pace back up. Managed to bridge the gap to them by the next roundabout (at about 42-44kph) but I tend to leave a gap between myself and pro-looking treadliers (or for that matter - any treadlier: accident/design?) which an L-plater in a Land Rover saw fit to squeeze between. The Land Rover then slowed through the next roundabout (at this point I'm megred with traffic) so the gap opened. Pulled it back again when the cycle path re-appeared after the roundabout (41.5kph per Strava) but then the group were able to swing across a gap in traffic to the cycle path running along the river while I just missed the window so had to hang around.

From there they had a gap of probably 30/50 metres. Spent the next 2.5 kms along the river at (per my eyeFone device) 38.7km/h but with the odd commuter to dodge around was only able to hold and not close the gap. Caught them crossing the road under the narrows bridge when gaps in traffic conspired against them and not me, but felt it would probably cheating to call it a draw. Given my recently-acquired 80s steel frame, 12 speed DT shifting, laptop in backpack, platform pedals and boat shoes (not official Tour-issue) I figured no points were at risk...Just good to have a roll chasing a strong group - something to aspire to!

Big gathering over the narrows with what looked like a BBQ brekkie and lots of treadliers milling around. I personally am not able to stomach a feed immediately after a ride so rolled past cautiously. Turning left towards the city and a couple of treadliers in front of me were wobbling back onto the path with the BBQ brekkie in one hand and one handlebar in the other...facepalm... so not wanting to tempt fate began my "cooldown" a little earlier and just rolled into the office.

Riding on the bike path, stopped at lights to cross a main road, one guy took off in front of me going slightly slower than i prefer, but i figured I'd wait until the next straighter section of path to go past. At the next road crossing a mate of his pulled in front of me then they settled in to chat, one on each side of the path, travelling slightly slower again. Feeling rather peeved that they obviously thought I wouldn't want to go any faster than them, I went onto the road for the next section of path and steamed past them. 5 mins later the first guy had ditched his mate and caught me up waiting to cross a main road, and asked me if I'd just started riding, because my bike looked new. Hmmph.

A few vexing incidents this week, one near-pandemonium experience approaching the Canning Bridge underpass (big oncoming bunch screaming through cutting the blind corner, what else is new ). On the way home I experimented with a detour through Manning / Salter pt to see if it was worthwhile to remove myself from the whole dynamic, and got muscled in on at a roundabout for my trouble (first I saw the bull-bar, then the p-plate ... sigh).

Monday I discovered that Sistema clip-lock containers are not airtight worth a metric pinch of showtime, just ask my cucumber raita infused cardigan! Yummy. Today, managed to forget to pack either my lunch or my wallet, subsisted on a crumpled sachet of instant porridge I found at the back of my filing cabinet.

::POUT::

...

... mind you, still better than sitting on the freeway I go past. Neener neener, suckers!

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